Debt strapped water users opt for payment plans

Payment plans – repayment arrangements based on settlement over an agreed timetable – have proven to be the most popular water-debt management option according to a study from customer services provider, Echo Management Services.

Echo has reported on a study that found that all water customers struggling with debt accepted a payment plan when it was offered. Echo urged water firms to “work to remove any perceived stigma around asking for, or accepting, support to pay household bills.”

Echo polled more than 2,000 UK water bill payers and found that 100% of those who had been in need of financial support took up offers of payment plans – some 37% of all bill payers who had struggled with debt.

Echo found that more than a quarter of all water bill payers who had sought help with debt management had taken debt advice, with the same proportion having also taken a payment holiday or had their charges frozen for an agreed period to cope with rising household bills.